The first thing you need to do when determining if you can use a c0mpetitor’s name to market your product is to find out whether or not the name is trademarked. If the name you’re using for your Google Ad campaign is not trademarked then it is acceptable to use your competitor’s name throughout your Google advertising efforts.
You can check to see if the keyword you’d like to bid on is a trademarked term by visiting the Trademark Electronic Search System website – http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp and clicking on Trademark Search on the left.
Competitors using the word ‘AdWords’
Through a common consensus among Google Adwords advertisers it currently appears acceptable to buy trademarked names in Adwords if you don’t mention the product or service on your site, so long as you don’t mention a trademarked name in your ad, you don’t try to harm the competitors reputation and you don’t make comparisons with trademark infringements.
If you plan on bidding on a competitor’s keyword in Google Adwords take precautions. If Google receives any complaints from your competitors they have the ability to cease your advertisements from operating on the search engine.
Lastly, local trademark laws can be applied to Google Adwords advertising . . . In a recent California federal district court they determined purchasing a trademarked keyword constituted “use in commerce” under the Lanham Act penalizing the company who purchased the keyword term to run their advertising. However, the company in question was purposefully trying to deceive customers into believing they were accessing the trademark term’s website.
To summarize, it is best to check with your lawyer first to make sure you are not infringing upon trademark rights, but as a rule of thumb as long as you are not purposefully being deceptive and you avoid using the keyword on your website or in your ad copy then it is acceptable to bid on trademarked keywords.
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